Air Malta leads in the adoption of latest flight deck technologies

Air Malta is maintaining its leading position in the adoption of the latest flight deck technologies particularly in the Electronic Flight Bag domain.

The Maltese airline was the first European operator to successfully deploy a paperless flight deck operation using Apple iPad devices and Jeppesen electronic charts, in early 2014. This solution provides pilots with one-touch access to up-to-date flight information, charts, maps, and other crucial navigation tools.

This year, in collaboration with three other international operators, Air Malta was formally invited by Jeppesen to participate in a product testing and evaluation program involving their new and upcoming electronic charting application – Jeppesen Flight Deck Pro 3.0.

Air Malta First Officer Mark Attard, Technical Pilot of the Airbus fleet, led the testing team and subsequently provided the required feedback to Jeppesen on trial versions covering their new product. With the assistance of other Air Malta pilots, F/O Attard tested, analysed, and provided solutions before the final product version will be released on the market. During his keynote address during the last Jeppesen CONNECT Event held in Zurich this month, F/O Attard shared the airline’s experience in relation to the testing program whilst highlighting the new product features.

The CONNECT event, is an independent platform for the airline industry which is organised by Jeppesen every two years. The event is attended by over 200 participants bringing market players, commercial and business jet operators together to showcase new developments in Jeppesen products and services.

The Electronic Flight Bag is intended to reduce pilot workload, increase situational awareness, lower operating costs through reduced fuel consumption based on weight savings and help Air Malta reduce its carbon emissions and become more environmentally friendly. A typical paper-based pilot flight bag weighs around 25 kilograms containing thousands of pages of navigation, airport and runway charts, aircraft performance data, operating manuals, reference handbooks, flight checklists, logbooks and weather information. The removal of this weight from on board each flight has reduced the airline’s annual fuel bill. Further cost reductions are being achieved through the supply of digital charts instead of the printed copies for all pilots.